Aloha Linzer Cookies - #Creative Cookie Exchange

Aloha.  Most people think of this word as hello or goodbye but it is so much more.  You could say it is the word for love, but that would not be totally accurate either.  Aloha can mean love, affection, peace, compassion, respect, kindness, and sympathy but the simple truth is that it is a way of life. It is a connection to each other and to nature, and a code of behavior as to how we should live our lives.

Love Me, Love Me Knots - #TwelveLoaves

It is February and love is in the air, cupid decorations are in the store, and Chocolate is the theme for this months #TwelveLoaves. There were so many options I considered for this theme but I decided to stick with a yeast bread, and found this recipe for Chocolate Love Knots at the Fleischmann site Breadworld.com.

Whoopie!

Well,  the good news is that I finally made Whoopie Pies.  The bad news is that they were from a boxed mix.  Whilst out shopping a few days ago my daughter spotted a mix for Red Velvet Whoopie Pies and looked at me with a hopeful face.  How could I say no?  Secretly I wanted to try it too, so into the basket it went.

We were amazed that the mixture came out looking like a chocolate cake mix, but as soon as I added the eggs, water, and oil it started to get a red color to it.  After a quick mix with my hand-held Kitchenaid it was really red.  The mix came with a piping bag and a sheet to place on the cookie tray as a guide to making heart-shaped Whoopie Pies.  I think there may have been a little too much batter for the bag, but of course I didn't realize this until it was too late.  I was trying to pipe and batter was oozing over the top of the bag and running down my fingers.  I was desperately trying to stop it from getting all over the cookie sheet, and also trying to plug the hole in the bottom of the bag, as I moved from spot to spot.  Seriously, it looked like a crime scene.  In the end it didn't matter how careful I was to pipe the hearts because they ran on the tray into blobs.  I gave in to the nature of the batter and piped circles instead on my Silpat, realizing that I could just use a cookie cutter to achieve the hearts at a later stage.

Once the cookies were cooled I peeled them off the Silpat and let them cool completely on a wire rack.  As they cooled I made up the cream cheese filling that had come in the box.  Let me just say that it had a very "distinct" smell.  I likened it to an extremely strong cheese smell.  I won't tell you what my husband likened it to.  After adding a few ingredients as directed it still had an unusual smell to it, but it did taste like vanilla.  I kept thinking "what in the heck am I eating"?  However, I really wanted to take photos so I went ahead and filled the Whoopie Pies.

Honestly, I would not buy this again.  I definitely need to try making Whoopie Pies again, but this time from scratch so I can get a real feel for them.  At the moment I am just not sure if they are my kind of thing.  I am wondering if I would like a macron better because of the crunch factor?

Happy Valentine's Day!